


A New Direction

by crazy_voveriukas



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Beginnings, Comfort, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-06-18
Packaged: 2018-02-05 05:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1806253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazy_voveriukas/pseuds/crazy_voveriukas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fight on Horizon, Garrus goes to tend his own wounds when an unexpected visitor comes along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Direction

**Author's Note:**

> Another short story that's been waiting to free itself for half a year now. Hope you like it.

Garrus stumbled into the main battery. Maybe his injuries were more serious than he thought. But he decided to take care of himself — after the rocket incident he was keen to avoid the medbay. One, he spent too much time in there already and two — he didn’t want the Cerberus crew seeing him weak. As he stood leaning on the console, the Battery doors opened and Shepard waltzed in. Helmet under her arm, blood under her nose. 

“I know you have some armor polisher here” 

“Sure, in the back” 

“Thanks” 

Garrus watched as she went to get the polisher, strange determination in the way she walked. He was getting good at reading her facial expressions, but this time it was unreadable. She sat down on the bench and started polishing her helmet. He was in some pain, but didn’t want to bother Shepard. He remembered Doctor Chakwas telling him how she paced around the medbay after Omega, no need to worry her needlessly.

“So, do you ever take off that armor, Garrus?” Finally, the familiar smirk crossed her lips.

“I might, but not in a ship full of Cerberus operatives. I still don’t know who to trust, so it is best to be prepared” what he didn’t say was that taking of the armor was on the top of the list before she came in — difficult to check for injuries fully equipped.

“Right, I’m with you on this. But I can’t be in armor all the time. Though it is designed to fit me “like a glove," everything starts to hurt at some point. The armor squeezes into the skin, leaves unpleasant marks” She rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s a good thing we turians have tougher skin then” He grinned, thinking of his bleeding waist. 

Shepard would come over often after he came back, but this was a bit unusual. She would usually make a run round the ship, and stop by for a chat, but never like this, straight out of battle. Shepard started taking of her chest plates. Garrus had never seen her remove her armor before, so he couldn’t help but stare. 

“Damn it” he heard “I can’t seem to undo the armor in the back, could you help” 

This came as a surprise to him. He never… Hmm… He walked up to her and immediately saw the problem. The seams were covered in what seemed an impossible amount of dried blood and it was stuck to her skin. 

“Well, Shepard, this might hurt a bit I presume” He tore the armor off as gently as he could, and a wound across half her back opened. 

“What, Garrus, is it bad?” 

“Well, I think you should go to doctor Chakwas and get this checked. You didn’t feel a thing before?” blood was running down her back. 

“Adrenaline, probably. But Garrus, you must have something here, I know you mostly stopped visiting the doctor, and you definitely get hurt, so help me out here, I don’t want to go out anywhere now” she looked at him with her ocean blue eyes “Please” At that moment his heart seemed to skip a beat, but he pulled himself together.

“Of course, Shepard, you know me too well” He reached out for the antiseptic and cleaned her wound. “I need to bandage this anyway” he exclaimed.  
“Sure” casually, she removed her top “Thanks, Garrus”. 

This brought him back to their time during Christmas, before she… And how the hell did they fit in his room? 

“Remembering something, Vakarian” Shepard asked. 

“Maybe I am” he couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice.

“Yeah. Those were some peaceful days before the storm.” 

“Peaceful, you say? Shepard, you and shore leave — never peaceful. How many times I had to patch you up because somehow having a couple of drinks would turn into a shootout or a bar fight?”  “What, can’t a girl have some fun improving her hand-to-hand combat skills?” They started laughing.

“You sure know how to show a man some good time, Shepard” 

“See, you love it” She winked at him. 

He finished patching her up, and felt bit dizzy himself, since he hadn’t taken care of his wounds yet. 

“Garrus, are you hurt?” Shepard lifted herself from the bench.

“I might be, hadn’t had the time to check” 

“Damn it, Vakarian!” All he saw was fire in her eyes and it seemed like she was ready to punch him for being careless, but she just got closer and started taking off his armor.

“The waist?” she asked. 

“Yeah, seems like it” he leaned on the console and accidentally pressed a few buttons, which meant hours of calibrating — again.

She took off the top of his armor and then suddenly turned towards the door and readied her omnitool “I don’t want any uninvited guests” she said, when she deadlocked the door. Garrus nodded. 

“I appreciate that, yet, how are we getting out?” 

“I know what I’m doing” she took the antiseptic and gently cleaned his wounds “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” 

“Getting sentimental here, Shepard?” He always used jokes to mask the pain.

“Well, I almost lost you once, not going to happen again” 

He looked down at her, the sudden openness caught him unawares. He observed Shepard’s swift but gentle movements, the way she bit her lower lip when she was concentrating on something. He felt the same way about her. He wanted to say something, but could never find the words. 

“I know, Garrus” she squeezed his hand and finished bandaging him. 

The medication kicked in and he felt relaxed, or was it Shepard? He couldn’t tell these days, but something had definitely changed. Shepard walked back to the bench and restarted polishing her armor. Garrus positioned himself on the floor and decided to clean his guns as well. Doing this together with Shepard was more calming than anything. Some find peace in meditation, Garrus found peace in this. They sat there in silence, only the Normandy’s engines humming. He got so concentrated, he hadn’t noticed the moment when the squeaking sound stopped. He looked up and saw Shepard cuddled on the bench — sleeping. 

“One more time, and this will become a habit” he thought to himself and his mandibles twitched in what seemed like a soft smile. 

He got up, found some of his civvies, and put them under her head. He removed the remaining armor as he knew she will regret falling asleep like this later. He brushed the hair of her face, sat down on the floor and just watched her for a while. He found himself longing to hold her, and to protect her. Not that she couldn’t take care of herself, yet… He could watch her like this forever, if only he was given the chance. Maybe now, after the incident… 

Shepard woke up suddenly, as if after a bad dream. 

“Are you all right?” He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry. — She rubbed her temples — I fell asleep? Vakarian, you seem to have a magical effect on me” She smiled. 

Shepard looked around and saw her armor in a neat pile, all shinny as new. She shook her head.

“Thank you, Garrus, for being here — she said it with such affection in her voice that it made shivers run down his back — You truly are the best. But as much I like being here, I think it is time for me to resume my Commander duties, or Miranda and Jacob will get a heart attack or something if I stay missing for a while longer” She put her armor in the bag and was ready to go when Garrus spoke: 

“Shepard, I need to ask you something” 

“Go ahead” 

“How are you holding up? After what happened there on Horizon… I’ll be honest, that whole situation got me boiling up, I can’t imagine how it was for you.” He considered Kaidan a friend in arms, but at that moment he felt disappointed.

Shepard came up closer to him and leaned on the console, arms crossed in front of her.

“I did not deserve that, Garrus. Yes, it has been two years, but for me it’s just a few weeks. A month ago in my timeline we were having Christmas shore leave. And it’s not like I didn’t ask the Illusive Man about you and everyone else, you know that. But the mistrust in his voice… I understand that it’s confusing, the whole situation with me being dead and then alive again. But how does he think I feel? I still can’t wrap my head around it all. I am angry, and sad, and upset. I’d still expect a friend to act differently… — She sighed deeply — You, Garrus, as soon as you recovered you were ready to follow me into hell and watch my back. You understood the position I was in — she took his hands and looked deep into his eyes — I need someone like you in my life” a gentle smile curled her lips.

Garrus lifted his hand and fixed a rogue strand of hair that found its way on her face. 

“It’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere then” he said confidently, trying to hide the fact that his heart was now racing.

As she left the main battery, Garrus stood still for what seemed a moment of forever — his world was changing, and he liked the direction it was going.


End file.
